Welcome to NECF. We're thrilled you're here.
Make sure to stay with us till the end, where
we'll share some great resources to deepen your
faith. Now, let's dive into this week's sermon.
And to start the teaching, the topic is actually
ministers of God. Ministers of God. manifesting
the kingdom of God. Ministers of God manifesting
the kingdom of God. And while Pastor Kostin was
speaking, I think something dropped in my heart
and he re -echoed it. While the teaching is going
on, we're going to see, we're going to, those
of us that are open will hear and receive instructions.
It's going to be very prophetic and there's going
to be direction as we're listening to what God
is going to be communicating to us. I want you
to posture yourself to receive. There's a posturing
that you take to receive. There's a posturing
that you take to receive. And it's very important
that you don't miss out on what God is doing
in this season, in this church. And please let
your phones not rob you of the opportunity that
you have. to learn. Let your phone not rob you
of the opportunity that you have to learn. To
start off, I want to ask a question. I want you
to just, I know many of us can relate. How many
of you walked into a room and you walked into
the room having something in mind to pick? Like
you went to get something from the room and then
it's almost like you walk into the room and then
you... Almost cannot remember what you came in
for. How many of you have had that experience?
A couple. Some of you, you're very... Okay, I
think this one, the next one is very relatable.
Where you picked up your phone, you knew what
you were going to do when you picked up your
phone. Then after 20 minutes, you're watching
videos. You knew. You picked it up, let me reply,
or let me... I think I remember my... mom or
my dad called me and I said okay let me reply
or let me and then all of a sudden 20 minutes
later and sometimes you can't even remember in
fact you have it's after 20 minutes you remember
why you picked your phone in the first place
and what that communicates to us and it's not
just mobile phones or coming to the room and
forgetting what that communicates to us is that
we have a tendency to be distracted right We
have a tendency to be distracted, and it's not
only in the things that we want to do at the
moment. We can also be distracted in the things
that God has called us to do. We can be distracted
in our own lives, where you're just going, you're
forgetting. In fact, it's very practical. You
went to the market. Your goal was to go and buy
water to drink. All of a sudden, you enter the
market, and we see you with ice cream. The question
is, what happened? The goal was to get water
to drink to quench your thirst. And then here
you are with something that will make you go
back to the market again to get another. And
sometimes you even go to the market and all of
a sudden you have wandered around the market
for like 20 minutes and you came out without
the thing you went there for. That's another
category of people. Praise God. So we can. And
what will help us to check is to ask ourselves
one very key question. Why am I here? What? am
i here for i want you to write that down or in
fact make it more practical turn to the next
person and ask them why are you here so what
are you here for some of us are just looking
at ourselves it's a simple just why you know
that can you know when the person when someone
tells me they're going to the market to get water
and they come out without the water i'll ask
them right I've asked them, where is the water?
Right? And you're asking that question so that
the individual can reflect on why it is that
they're here. Because it's going to tell them
how they do the things that they do in church.
You know, if you were here for the service, you
wouldn't be pressing your phone while the service
is going on. Right? And this is for some of us
that are in service and you're not in service.
Some people have the ability to be in two places
at the same time. Some people can be in multiple
places at the same time. I think there's a word
for that, multi -taxing. Right? But know that
if you want to get something done, yeah, multi
-taxing has its place. Some of us are struggling
with multi -taxing. Some of us do it professionally
very well. But you are not going to be as effective
as you will be when you focus on one tax. Some
people have the ability to focus on multi -tax
and they will argue that. If you are going to
the market to buy several things, you have to
have a list. Even on that list, you have what's
the first, what's the second. In fact, when your
money is not enough, you stop after you've gotten
the most important. Praise God. So it means that
for us as believers, we have to focus or pay
attention to what is most important. And sometimes
we can say this is the most important and we're
doing something else. Hence, we have to keep
checking and asking ourselves this key question.
Why am I here? Those of us here in Cyprus, some
of us were here, we had gotten the degrees, so
what next? Know that what you are here for or
when you know what you are here for, it tells
us the next thing to do. You're not confused
where to go from here because you know why you
were here in the first place. You've done it.
It's done and then you move to the next. And
I'm saying all of this for us to come to that
place where, because we're really trusting God
to help us. To not just be all over the place,
but to be specific. And in God's word, we find
that specific thing that we're here for. Amongst
all the different things, getting a degree, which
is very beautiful. Some of us have a lot of it.
Some of us have degrees. But those degrees will
fade away. Those degrees will fade away. And
some of us, it's a job. Things are changing.
There are many things that we're pursuing that
in the next couple of years, they'll be irrelevant.
But there's something that will never fade away.
Scripture says that's the thing that lasts. Praise
God. That's the thing that lasts. And reorienting
ourselves and realigning ourselves is very important.
Reorienting and realigning ourselves is very
important because that's what keeps us on track.
And very interestingly, Apostle Paul, in his
communication, brings that to the church, the
Corinthian church. Even though that particular
letter he was writing to the church in Corinth,
we see that in 2 Corinthians 1 verse 1. Let's
just go there and see who is addressing the letter
to 2 Corinthians. 1 verse 1. It says, Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God and
Timothy, our brother, to the church of God, which
is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in
all Achaia. Praise God. And he goes in verse
2 to say, grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go back
to chapter 6. And then he starts off by saying,
we then as walkers together with him also plead
with you. not to receive the grace of God in
vain. And very quickly, we'll start off by seeing
two things he communicates. He says, as walkers
together with him, as walkers together with God.
And then he says, also plead with you not to
receive the grace of God in vain. What we're
going to be doing in today's service is that
we're going to look at two things. One of it
is identity. and the second of it is responsibility.
The first is identity, and the second is responsibility.
And we're going to see that throughout Scripture,
those two things work hand in hand. Once you
identify with something, someone, you have a
responsibility that follows. First is identity,
second is responsibility. If you are a student,
you have a responsibility. Yes, you're identified
as a student, but second, there's a responsibility.
If you are a believer, that is the start. What
follows is the responsibility. And what Paul
communicates in the first line is responsibility.
Because as walkers, you have a responsibility
to do what? To walk, right? If you call yourself
a walker, you have a responsibility to walk,
right? If you don't walk, what do you now become?
You say that jobless. If you don't walk, they
say you don't chop, right? And then he now goes
further to say, walk as wit, because walk as
wit. God also plead with you not to receive the
grace of God in vain. with you not to receive
the grace of God in vain. The grace of God is
what we're going to explain further. But we know
that if you're confused, or if you just are hearing
that for the first time, or you've heard that
a lot, that you're not sure exactly what it is,
we're going to look at it even further. In the
previous chapter, that is chapters 5. Chapters
5, I want us to go to Chapters 5, 17. It says,
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation. All things have passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. So note that now,
the individual that is in Christ has an identity.
That individual now is identified with Christ,
establishing the identity. Then what we'll see
next in 18 now, it's still further explained.
It said, now all things are of God who has reconciled
us to himself through Jesus Christ. Now we know
that this, the agency or the person by which
this reconciliation happened is through the person
of Christ Jesus and has given us the ministry
of reconciliation. Now we know that the ministry
there is, we know that ministry is work, right?
It's responsibility. Ministry is responsibility.
He says, you are now in Christ Jesus, and then
now you have a responsibility. So it means that
you have to, you know, we can be walking, right?
Walking and then there's no sense of responsibility.
And that is, over time you discover that is useless
work, where you're just doing a lot of things,
but nothing gets, you're not even making any
progress. Praise God. He establishes that. I
want to read 4 to 9. We'll stop at 20. So he
says, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling
the world to himself, not impugning their trespasses,
which is very key, not impugning their trespasses
to them. He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though
God were pleading through us. We implore you
on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. We
implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled
to God. So now we see the identity and we see
the responsibility. Please, let's just walk.
this together. We'll be seeing identity and we'll
be seeing responsibility. And where we get the
topic for this teaching is from verse 4. That
is 2 Corinthians 6 verse 4. 2 Corinthians 6 verse
4. And just take note of the word commend you.
2 Corinthians 6 verse 4. I'll just read. It says,
But in all things we commend ourselves As ministers
of God, with patience and tribulations, I just
want you to pay attention to the first line there.
But in all things, we commend ourselves as ministers
of God. We say this in all things, we commend
ourselves as ministers of God. You know, from
the previous verse, all of it is anchored on...
what he has been saying, several things he has
said. Committing ourselves as ministers of God.
We want to first ask ourselves, who is a minister?
Who is a minister? And the word there for minister
is the Greek word diakonos, which is D -I -A
-K -O -N -O -S. D -I -A -K -O -N -O -S. And the
word implies servant. If you look at some certain
translations, you will see servant, someone who
serves or someone who serves to serve with another.
It implies a servant or someone who serves or
to serve with another. And this word is used
for a deacon. Not a deacon. It's used for a deacon.
It's good. It's used for a deacon. And going
back to the passage where he says, in all things
that we recommend ourselves, meaning that Apostle
Paul is speaking of himself and the people he's
talking to. And it's not just certain groups
of people, right? And even when he started the
first verse in 1, he says, Then as walkers together.
As walkers together. Everyone is included in
this. As walkers together. As walkers together.
So a minister of God is called to the work of
God. And I want us to look at what this work
entails. I want us to examine. I want us to pay
close attention to what this work will be. Because
if you say you're called to a work, you need
to know what the work is to do the work, right?
If you don't know the walk, you can do the walk.
Yes, you can answer walker, but you're not responsible.
Because responsibility is actually doing the
walk, right? Responsibility is actually doing
the walk. So I said that when he says walkers
or ministers, he's not talking about an individual.
Yes, you can be a minister. But note that when
he says ministers, it's plural, right? It's plural,
which goes back to what we have been. Pastor
Victor has been teaching us on the fact that
in our service, we don't serve individually.
Even when you're doing your service, you're serving
someone, right? You're not serving yourself.
Your service is in a body. Praise God. Your service
is in a body. So it means that you can't do service
alone. You cannot do service alone. Even a church
service, you can't do it alone. You need encouragement,
right? When you're talking to someone, someone
is talking back to you and you're getting feedback,
it's encouraging. Praise God. And we say that
we're part of a family. We're part of God's household,
right? We're part of a family. And that is in
the household of God that we minister. It's in
the household of God that we minister. Because
you will have to minister to someone. And you
can only do that effectively in... And please
pay attention. I'm still repeating myself again.
That this ministry or this walk of ministry is
not to a particular group of people. It's not
to, you know, it's not to the pastor. You know,
I think we started. It's not to, it's not everyone
that believes. We said it. The moment you identify
as a believer, you have a responsibility. The
moment you identify as a believer, you have a
responsibility. And it's very interesting that
we should note that as a minister, you don't
have to think about it. You will minister, right?
As a minister identity, you will minister responsibility.
As a minister, you will minister. As a minister...
you will minister. Going back to what Apostle
Paul was saying to them in verse 1. He says,
as workers together with him also plead with
you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
Your identity, there's work, means that there's
a responsibility. What he'll be charging them
to do is to identify with the responsibility
that they have. And certain translations will
use fellow workers, right? God's fellow workers.
The Amplified Classic will say God's fellow workers.
And then the NIV will say co -workers, God's
co -workers. In what work? It says the work of
ministry, right? In the work of ministry. And
observe, I will say it again, I will repeat myself
till you get it. That a believer... is saved,
and then what follows afterwards is that the
believer is strained for the work of ministry.
A believer is saved, then what happens immediately
afterwards is that the believer is strained for
the work of ministry. We have read 2 Corinthians
5 .17 down to 20, and I'll bring our attention
to the 19 and then the 20. It says that God,
that is, God was in Christ reconciling the world
to himself, not imputing their trespasses to
them, and also committed to us the word of reconciliation.
He committed it to us. Remember, he said, I commend
you as ministers of God. Commended it to us.
He said, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ,
ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading
through us. Meaning that the individual now is
a conduit. The individual is a conduit. What
the individual is communicating is what they
have received. We implore you on Christ's behalf.
Meaning that the person that is a minister is
representing, is standing on behalf of Christ.
Be reconciled to God. Praise God. So what we're
going to take time to do next is that we're going
to look at what this grace is, the grace of God.
What is the grace of God? What is the grace of
God? First, let's just, is it something? Is it
someone? Is it something? Is it someone? We're
going to look at a couple of passages to establish
that. The word grace is a Greek word. Charis.
That's C -H -A -R -I -S. C -H -A -R -I -S. It
means what is freely given. It means what is
freely given for the benefit of the recipient.
What is freely given for the benefit of the recipient.
It's a gift. And sometimes you see it as a gift
of God. The grace of God. You see it as, and
it's not something that you work for, right?
It's not something that you work for. Remember,
we said your identity, you didn't come into relationship
with God by us, by what it is that you've done.
We have to very much establish that how you came
into the relationship you have with God is not
by what the things that you've done. It's not
because you did certain things. It's by what
Christ has done. It's by what Christ has done.
So the grace of God is freely given to us at
Christ's resurrection. Know that it is his death,
burial, and resurrection that brings us into
the relationship. Remember what it says, we're
reconciled to God by what Christ has done. We're
reconciled to God. And know that that reconciliation
brings us to that place of where we are serving.
We're serving. We're serving. And for everyone
of us to serve and serve effectively, there's
a need for training. And where training happens
is in meetings like this. Midweek service meetings.
Friday cell meetings. And I want you to ask yourself
why this teaching is going on. Are you part of
the midweek service meetings? Are you part of
the cell meetings? Because those are avenues
where we are trained for the work that we're
called to do. When we say, okay, we're doing
our Bible in one year, we're doing all of those
things, avenues that we have to be trained. For
some of us, we have never. We have never read
our Bibles. In fact, somebody can say something
and tell you it's in there, and you say yes.
Because you are not familiar with it. And you
can't be a minister without knowing what it is
your ministry is. And it's in the Word of God
that we are better. we have better clarity as
to what we are called to do. So we want to now
look at the things that God has done and the
things that he's doing. The things that God has
done, he had done them in Christ Jesus. The victory
that we have, we're not walking for that victory.
It has already been done. And we're going to
see what it is that he is doing because we know
that God is walking in us. He's walking in us.
At the agency by which he does that is the instrument
of his word, by his spirit, by teachings, by
fellowship, we're able to be built. We're able
to be built. I want us to look at 1 Corinthians
15 .10. 1 Corinthians 15 .10. And Apostle Paul
speaking, he says, but for the grace of God,
but by the grace of God, sorry. But by the grace
of God, I am what I am. Apostle Paul is speaking
that what he is, is because of the grace of God.
And we say the grace of God is freely given.
He didn't work for it. He says, and his grace
towards me is not in vain. I'm going to first
remember 6 verse 1, right? He says, the grace
of God, let the grace of God not be in vain,
right? Same thing here, he's saying, and the
grace of God towards him is... Not in vain, meaning
that he has a responsibility. He says, but I
labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not
I, but the grace of God, which was with me. Praise
God. He says, yet not I, but the grace of God.
Meaning that he's doing the things he's doing,
but he knows that it's not that. It is the grace
of God. He's taking his responsibilities seriously.
He's not sleeping. He's taking his responsibilities
seriously and he knows that that is all attributable
because if he isn't identified with Christ, everything
he's doing will just be useless work. In fact,
before he was saved, he was responsible. Praise
God. He was responsible for killing Christians.
He was responsible for... He went all out. And
then now that he's identified with Christ, he
now has a responsibility. And we say that this
responsibility is the responsibility that God
has given unto him for the work of ministry.
Praise God. And he works hard. He works hard.
And you don't want to sleep on the grace of God
that you have received. You want to make the
most of it. Right? If you're not being trained,
you will not be effective. Without training,
you will not be effective. And we are in a world
where people don't want to put in effort. They
just want to do less and see more. You know,
even when you are doing useless work, there's
still results, right? You're just working. And
people can be busy, but still doing nothing.
You're very busy, but you can't... You know,
you need to have... When we started, we said,
you want to have a sense of direction. I'm going
to accomplish this. I put everything in that
direction to get the work done. If I spread myself
wide... There's so much you can do with the amount
of time that you have. We all have that same
amount of time. And we're in a world where people
do this work smart. And we use that work smart.
Some people use the work smart as an excuse for
laziness. Say, I'm working smart. You know, you're
working hard. I'm working smart. And you... And
there's no progress in the smart walk. Because
every hard walk has its result. And we know we
can see that. We can see it in the results it
produces. Praise God. We can see it in the results
that it produces. And it's very important that
we are doing it God's way. We're doing it God's
way. Many of us like doing things in our own
terms. They say, okay, do it like this. You say,
no, no, no, this is easier. I prefer this way.
Preferring your way will produce your results
or produce the result that is not expected. If
we want to do things for God, we walk by His
instruction. You believe and you're saved and
then you're trained for the work of ministry.
Once you're done, it's something else that you're
going to be doing. Not ministry. You can call
it whatever it is. And many people do that in
this day and age where they say, I'm doing ministry.
What are you doing? They can't explain it. And
by the way, just for context sake, standing and
preaching to you, yes, it's part of ministry,
but it's not. You can't do one thing as part
of it and then you say you're doing the whole
thing. Sometimes we want to make our way with
that. The grace of God says, In that particular
passage, in the next passage we're going to be
seeing, we want to see that the grace of God
was very much, which we have seen previously,
was very much made available by what Christ has
done on the cross. Very important. We'll see
that in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 4. 1 Corinthians
1 verse 4. Apostle Paul speaking and says, I
thank my God, always concerning you, for the
believers, for the grace of God which was given
to you by Christ Jesus. for the grace of God
given to you by Christ Jesus. He very spells
it that it's Christ Jesus that made that grace
available. And we know that the means by which
that was accomplished is by what he had done
for us to be reconciled to God. Amen? What he
has done for us to be reconciled to God. And
in Acts 11, I want us to read Acts 11, verse
21 to... Acts 11, 21, 23. Even though I think
when I look at 19. Okay, it says, And the hand
of God was with them, and a great number believed
and turned to the Lord. A great number believed
and turned to the Lord. Then news of these things
came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem.
And they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.
When he came and had seen the grace of God, he
was glad and encouraged them all that with purpose
of heart they should continue with the Lord.
Praise God. That with purpose of heart they should
continue with the Lord. I want us to see something.
The preaching of the gospel by the believers
that were scattered abroad, we'll see that in,
let's go up to 19. 19. Yeah, it says, now those
who were scattered after the persecution that
arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phenicinia.
Cyprus and Antioch preaching. the word to one,
preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.
Then 20 now is where we see the results. But
some of them were men, some of them were men
from Cyprus and Cyrene who, when they had come
to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists preaching
the Lord Jesus. That's 21. And the hand of God,
was with them and a great number believed and
received and were turned to the Lord. Believed
and were turned to the Lord. They say, and now
this news reached them and then they sent Barnabas
to confirm. And what we see there is the preaching
of the gospel by the believers that were scattered
and the result of them being scattered is persecution.
And I think I was saying this one time in our
cell. I said, if you are being persecuted and
then you run, How you know that you take what
you're doing seriously is that anywhere you find
yourself, you continue what they were persecuting
you for. Praise God. You continue. It's like
the reason why they chased you, in the negative
sense, it is why they chased you from my house.
It's because you now go to the next place and
then you continue the same thing. That one makes
sense. You continue the same thing. But these
people were, because of preaching the gospel,
and then they went to that new location. They
continued. And they continued and they did it
so well that a lot of people, right, it says
there that a great number believed and were turned
to the Lord. And Barabbas came and he saw what
God was doing in the lives of these people. The
way the gospel was preached, what was happening
in their lives, not just the fact that they were
numbered, but the... The training and what has
happened. Because for you to have that amount
of... It's not one person doing the whole work.
Praise God. That's why we are ministers of God.
It's not one person that does it. And if you
sit down and say, No, it's not my responsibility.
You are not being responsible. Praise God. You
are even walking in disobedience. That's what
it is. Because the scripture instructs us to
do so. Right? Not that it encourages, it's encouraging,
right? When you come here and there's a lot of
people, no space, you know, that is encouraging.
And it gladdens our heart that the work of God
is going and we encourage ourselves, right? And
our hearts are encouraged. And how that continues
to happen is that we stay. He says something
very important, that all with the purpose of
heart, that it should continue with the Lord.
Because continuing with the walk of ministry
or continuing with what the Lord has instructed
was what got them there in the first place. And
once you regress, you see something else. Praise
God. Once we regress, we see something else.
And in 2 Corinthians 9 verse 14, 2 Corinthians
9 verse 14, it says, And by their prayer for
you, we long for you because of the exceeding
grace of God in you. The exceeding grace of God
in you. Note that this grace is in us, and every
believer has it, right? Every believer has salvation,
and it's not just for a certain group of people.
It's not just like Apostle Paul, only it's just
him. You know, when he says, if not for the grace
of God, I am what I am, and it's only him. It's
for every believer. Don't exclude yourself. And
for some of us, we have excluded ourselves. We
just feel like our work is just to come, make
attendance, and then move. And for some individuals,
you have been restraining yourself from the calling
of God upon your life. You have been restraining,
you have been doing all that things to numb what
God has been instructing you to do. Doing a lot
of things to numb what God has been instructing
you to do. Know that you want to reorient yourself.
You want to realign yourself to what God has
called you to do from the very beginning. From
the very beginning. And I want us to see second,
let's see Ephesians. Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3.
Verse 2. Ephesians 3 verse 2. It says, For indeed
you have heard of the dispensation of the grace
of God which was given to me for you. Let's stop
there. I'll read it from the New Living Translation.
It says, Assuming by this way that you know God
gave me the special ability to extend His grace.
to you Gentiles. I want you to see the special
responsibility, sorry, the special responsibility
to extend his grace. And he also causes the responsibility,
gives it that responsibility to extend his grace
to the Gentiles. And then three in the same,
let's continue on the three. It says, how that
by revelation he made known to me the mystery
as I have. Briefly written already. As I have
briefly written already verse 4. It says, by
which when you read. Remember that he said the
revelation was given to him. And he had written
it down. And now the responsibility of the believer
is to read. You may understand my knowledge in
the mystery. of Christ. Know that the understanding
will only happen when you read. And what kind
of, what is that read? That read is not just,
I think we've said this in the church, by thought,
I think I can remember, Pastor Victor, it is
a diligent reading. It's a careful reading. It
means to read again. It means to read with attention
to details. It's not just a casual reading. It's
And we know that the source of it is the revelation
that was given to him. And we know that this
revelation is made available to him by the grace
of God. Let's continue to 7. Verse 5. apostles
and prophets, that the Gentiles should be fellow
heirs of the same body and partakers of the promise
in Christ through the gospel, the gospel of which
I became a minister according to the gift of
the grace of God given to me by the effective
walking of his power. Praise God. All of this,
he says, I am a minister. according to the gift
of the grace of God given to me by the effective
walking of his power. That's the power of God,
the gift of God. All of that is what brought
him to that place. And the revelation made available
by the Holy Spirit, he gives the revelation and
he wants every other person that is reading,
us included, to come to that place of an understanding.
And what this means is that we... are brought
into it and we are able to have that understanding
by the grace of God. And in 2 Peter, which is
where we'll see that we grow in the grace of
God. The grace of God will mean the knowledge
of God, right? The grace of God will be the knowledge
of God. 2 Peter 3, 18. It says, but grow in the
grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus, of
our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ. To him be
the glory now and forever. Amen. Meaning that
as a believer, we grow. And how do we grow? By
training. We grow by training. We grow by the
word of God. We grow in evil. And we'll see in
the same, we'll see Ephesians 2 verse 8. Ephesians
2 verse 8. We'll see it with respect to it. It
says, For by grace we have been saved through
faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift
of God. You see, by grace we have been saved
through faith. The means by which we are saved
is by faith and believing in what Christ has
done. And then we come to that place where we
are able to be responsible. Very key that we
further re -establish the fact that the grace
of God is... the agency by which an unbeliever
is saved. And the means by which that happens
is by the preaching. It's by a believer preaching,
not an unbeliever preaching to an unbeliever,
right? That's not how it happens. It's by someone
who believes, because when you don't believe
something, you can't convince someone of that
thing with you. And even when you believe, you
have to be trained to do it effectively, right?
Even when you do believe. Without training, you
cannot preach or effectively communicate that
which you have received. Praise God. And then
Timothy 2, verse 11. We'll read down to 14. Timothy
2, verse 11. I'm sorry, Titus. Titus 2, verse
11. It says, Teaching us that denying ungodliness
and worldly loss, we should live soberly, righteously
and godly in this present age. 13. Looking for
the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our
great God and Savior Jesus Christ. 14. Who gave
himself for us that he might redeem us. from
every lawless deed and purify for himself his
own special people, zealous for good works. Zealous
for good works. I want us to go back to the 11.
And we see that it's the grace of God that brings
salvation, right? It's the grace of God. It's
Christ, what Christ has done. And how that happens
is when the word of God is preached. When the
word of God is preached, The person believes
and receives it. Now that person is saved. And
once that person is saved, what happens next
is that the person now is trained for the work
of ministry. And this is not excluding anybody.
Everybody is part of that. Once you're trained,
you serve. And if you look at what it says, it
says, teaching us. That same grace, teaching
us. That same grace, teaching us. that denying
ungodliness and bodily loss, we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly in this present age. What
that establishes very clearly is that you can
be saved, but if you are not taught or trained,
you will still be living like as before, but
you are saved. Because you have... situations
like that where you're confused. The person believes,
the person loves the Lord, but the person is,
you're not sure. Praise God. Know that you're
not living out your identity. It's when you're
responsible, you do what is instructed. And when
you don't know, how do you do? You can't do anything
when you don't know what that is. Praise God.
You can't do anything when you don't know. what
it is. That salvation, what should follow afterwards
is, remember what I said, believer is saved and
trained for the work of ministry. Believer is
saved, trained for the work of ministry. And
once that doesn't happen, you have a believer
that is living in ungodliness and the problem
is lack of training. The person is not taught.
And once the person is taught, the person does.
And we see that in Acts of Apostles. They come
into a place, oh, what's going on here? The gospel
is preached and then there's the laying of hands
and then the person is equipped for ministering.
Equipping for ministering. And I'll just read
1 Peter. 1 Peter 4 verse 10. 1 Peter 4 verse
10. It says, as each one has received a gift,
minister it to one another. Minister it to one
another. As good stewards of the manifold grace
of God. Says, as each one has received the gift.
Minister. We have received the gift, so we minister.
We have received the gift, so we minister. We
have received the gift, so we minister. And we
minister what? As good stewards. We minister
as faithful stewards of that which we have received.
And a minister, we said earlier, I'll repeat
again. Serves, right? Someone who serves is a
servant. And it's also to serve with another
or to serve one another. A minister is someone
who serves. And I want us to see in the Acts
while we close. In Acts 2, we'll continue from
here in our next meeting. In Acts 2, verse 42,
47. I want you to see this very practical. In
Acts 2. It says in Acts 2 .40, it says, And with
many other words he testified and exalted them,
saying, Be saved from this perverse generation.
Then those who gladly received the word were
baptized, and that day about three thousand souls
were added to them. And they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and
in breaking of bread and in prayers. Says, then
fear came upon every soul and many signs and
wonders were done through the apostles. Now all
who believed were together and had all things
in common and sold their possessions and goods
and divided them among all and everyone as anyone
had need. So continuing daily with one. In one
accord in the temple and breaking bread from
house to house, they eat their food with gladness
and simplicity of heart, praising God and having
favor with all men. And the Lord added to the
church daily those who are being saved. Praise
God. And the Lord added to the... And what I
want us to see is the fact that the believers
were saved and what they go to do is we see them
taking up the responsibility and... Meeting the
needs of others and serving others, right? They
were saved and then all of them, it didn't say
some of them. It didn't specify that this person
did it, that person did not do it. All of them
were responsible and were doing the work of ministry.
And we see that these individuals went on to
serve. It's from this group of people that we
see people like Philip, people like Stephen.
The church kept on growing as a result of believers
coming in to save. coming into service, and doing
the work of ministry, and then the church expands
that way. And I'm bringing it down to the church
of NECF. The way we can grow and grow more effectively
is by not just, like you don't just come to church,
but you take the responsibility of ensuring that
you look out for other believers. And you can
go out and preach, but the work is in discipling.
You can get someone saved, but the responsibility
there, you know, when you do that, that's one
phase. The phase that continues is that responsibility
of ensuring that they grow. You teach them to
the point where they can do the same for others.
Praise God. And our responsibility is to preach
so that men will be saved. And the gospel is
the only way. Preaching the gospel is how men
get saved. And if we are not trained to do so,
if we don't, Our tie is doing so. I'll just close
like this. In our cell units, I think on Friday,
I think I was just, we're just going and I said,
we have to, because we already, we know they
say going from house to house. We're already
in a region where houses are around. Nothing
stops us from going and asking, are we okay?
Because there are a lot of people, there are
a lot of people that need to hear the gospel.
In fact, you have friends that you've never spoken
to about. about the gospel. And it's something
that we should prioritize. It's important to
God. It should be important to us. Praise God.
I want us to declare these words as we close.
See, I am a minister. I am a minister. I am serving
in the Church of NACF. And if you're not serving,
you should. I'm serving the Church of NACF. I
am receiving training faithfully. And I am training
others. I diligently seek opportunities to grow
in the knowledge of God. I am not afraid to preach
the gospel that gets an unbeliever saved. I am
patient with the unbeliever and get them saved
and see them grow. I am patient with the unbeliever.
Some of us are very impatient. I am patient with
the unbeliever to get them saved. and see them
grow. I want us to just pray and just say, Father,
I thank you because I am a minister. We're thankful
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you with us next time. God bless.